Web Stories

Smithsonian taps biology professor for science commission

Posted July 18, 2001; 03:45 p.m.

by rstevens

Professor of Biology Simon Levin has been appointed to a new advisory commission of the Smithsonian Institution. The panel will advise the institution on the direction of its future scientific research.

The commission will offer suggestions to the Smithsonian on setting research priorities, raising public awareness of Smithsonian activities, and measuring and optimizing research performance, among other topics. Its findings will be submitted to the Smithsonian's Board of Regents for consideration.

The 18-member commission comprises a range of experts in many fields of science and scientific education. Its first meeting will be in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 6-7.

Levin is the George M. Moffett Professor of Biology, a position he has held at Princeton since 1992. He also served as director of the Princeton Environmental Institute from 1993 to 1998. He is editor of the recently published five-volume Encyclopedia of Biodiversity.